"He looks thin, and his hair is decidedly silvered; but his eyes just beamed at me with kindness. He never spoke once about the change in his circumstances, and on Sunday he preached a sermon which set me crying."
"Dear Mildred, I think father's sermons were always beautiful. How I should like to hear him once again!"
"So you will, of course, very soon; they're all expecting you down. Why don't you go?"
The faintest shadow of a cloud flitted across Hilda's face.
"Jasper is so busy," she said.
"Well, go without him. I am quite convinced you would do them a sight of good."
"Jasper does not like me to leave him," said Hilda; "we both intend to run down to the Rectory for a flying visit soon, but he is so busy just at present that he cannot fix a day. Go on, Milly, tell me about the others. What of Babs?"
"I saw her squatting down on the middle of the floor with a blind kitten just three days old in her lap. The kitten squalled frightfully, and Babs kept on calling it 'poor, pretty darling.' I thought badly of the kitten's future prospects, but well of its nurse's; she looked particularly flourishing."
"And Judy?" said Hilda, "she wasn't well a little time ago, but Aunt Marjorie has said nothing about her health lately. Has she quite, quite recovered? Did she look ill? Did you see much of her?"
"She was sitting in the ingle-nook, reading a book."